Word
stalk
Phoneticsstalk
US/ˈstɔk/
UK/stˈɔːk/
Definitions
01to follow stealthily
B2 · Upper Intermediate
v. to follow a person or animal quietly and secretly, usually to catch them or watch them.
v. to pursue or approach game or an enemy stealthily. Transitive when a specific target is mentioned.
“The tiger began to stalk the deer through the tall grass.”
“The leopard spent hours stalking its prey, moving with such fluid silence that not a single dry leaf rustled under its paws.”
Synonyms
02to harass someone
B2 · Upper Intermediate Law
v. to follow or try to contact someone constantly in a way that is scary or annoying.
v. to pursue or harass a person with obsessive and often illegal attention. Frequently implies a pattern of behavior rather than a single incident.
“He was arrested after he continued to stalk his ex-girlfriend for months.”
“The celebrity was forced to hire additional security after a fan began to stalk her, appearing outside her private residence daily.”
03online monitoring
B2 · Upper Intermediate Computing Informal
v. to look at someone's social media profile very often to see what they are doing.
v. To obsessively monitor a person's social media activity without their knowledge or direct interaction.
“I spent the whole evening stalking my old school friends on Instagram.”
“While technically harmless, his habit of stalking his competitors' LinkedIn profiles gave him a slight edge in understanding their hiring trends.”
04to walk haughtily
C1 · Advanced Literary
v. to walk in a stiff, proud, or angry way.
v. To walk with a stiff, haughty, or indignant gait. Intransitive; often used with 'out' or 'away'.
“After the argument, she turned around and stalked out of the room.”
“Offended by the suggestion of impropriety, the diplomat stalked out of the chamber without offering a final rebuttal.”
05part of a plant
B1 · Intermediate Countable noun Botany
n. the main stem of a plant, or the part that joins a leaf or fruit to the stem.
n. The main stem of a herbaceous plant, or a slender support such as a petiole or pedicel.
Español:tallo
“She cut the celery stalks into small pieces for the soup.”
“The heavy rains caused the sunflower stalks to bend, though they did not snap under the weight of the saturated blooms.”
06mathematical sheaf theory
C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Mathematics Technical
n. a technical term in math used to describe data near a specific point.
n. The direct limit of the sections of a sheaf on the open neighborhoods of a point. A fundamental construction in algebraic geometry and topology.
“The professor explained how to calculate the stalk of the sheaf at that point.”
“To understand the local behavior of the geometric object, one must examine the stalk of the structure sheaf at the given point.”
Usage
Commonly used in culinary contexts to refer to individual ribs of celery or stems of asparagus.
Real-World Examples
“Evil oligarchs and their influence stalk the world, my world, your world.” Word family
NOUN
Domains
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.B2 FirstIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.5.5–6.5TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 4.0–4.572–94TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.785–944
- Frequency
- Frequent
- Level
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Updated
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Traducciones: Kaikki.org (Wiktionary), CC BY-SA 4.0